Group Project Work
Group Report Gemma - has been editing Donna - has been editing Izzy - has been editing For the group I’m going to try to write the question here- though there is a bunch of statements with no clear question – see what you all think; * Intro para makes ref. to the quantity of C02 produced through energy etc. So wider climate change issue. * The Uni has established the Bham Energy Institute to create change in the way we deliver consume and think about energy (so wider picture about behaviour and behaviour change) * Energy Capital is establishing four pilot Energy Innovation Zones (EIZs) in the West Mids which will integrate low carbon technologies and develop the infrastructure needed to support new approaches. ' * '''It will be interesting to understand how EIZs can operate alongside more local, small-scale and community-owned energy generation activities. ' * '''What might the likely mix of future generation be, considering the national grid, EIZs and local generation? * What incentives and financial arrangements would be needed for communities to be willing to invest in energy schemes in their locality? * Where are community schemes that are currently generating and how could community generation be seen as an important stakeholder in energy generation? * Low carbon energy generation is hugely important to reduce carbon emissions in the drive against climate change. This project also raises social issues by considering the role that local communities can play in generating energy and sharing in the revenues of energy generation. What’s he Role of Locally/Community produced Energy (actual wording above) First ideas on the heading’s we’re going to use in the report. Please add any comments and remember to put your comments in track changes. This is a test of Wiki to see if we can all edit this doc (I'm new to this so apologies if it goes wrong :-)) Contents Page # Intro & Context # Scope of Research? # Top Level Findings # Body of Report # Conclusions Ideas on Intro & Context 97% of scientists now agree that climate change is caused by human activity. Population growth is at xxx and Climate change is on track to push the earth’s temperature past 2 degrees (etc.) – The world is now acting as one in monitoring climate changes, its causes and potential solutions in order to act more responsibly towards the planet. Producing energy from fossil fuels (gas/oil and coal) is responsible for xxx% of the C02 produced annually/or Green house gasses??. Xxxxx? IGPCC?? has recommended that the world needs to move away from fossil fuels and produce energy from more renewable sources. Renewable energy definition xxxx. This would allow the world population to live more sustainably (sustainability definition xxxx). Traditionally, electricity is generated at large power plants and transported to consumers via high voltage transmission lines and lower voltage distribution lines. Energy is lost both in transmission, and when the voltage is stepped down between the transmission and distribution networks. In theory, producing energy locally to where it is consumed has the potential to reduce this energy loss - Izzy Definition of local/community (what’s the actual title wording). aim of energy capital & energy zones (dg) - this stuff is all in the long report that I read. I'm happy to write a summary of that report here - Izzy. Legal, Environmental, Political, Economical, Sociological, Technical, & Competition Scope of research?? Suggested research questions: - Izzy # What are the barriers to the success of EIZs and Energy Capital? Some of these are listed in the Energy Capital report. Suggest we could use the backcasting tools (eg future radars) to help us identify further potential barriers. Also ask existing schemes what is stopping them from scaling up. We could split these barriers into social, environmental, economic and technical to help structure the report and our work. # Who are the key opponents/who is responsible for these barriers? Stakeholder analysis? Who do EIZs need to engage with? # How can some of these barriers be overcome? Why are existing schemes not able to scale up, and what could energy capital do to remove those barriers? The 6-3-6 model/tool might help here, as well as multi-level perspective tools? # How do we get the local community on board and involved? What examples are there from elsewhere on community engagement - both successes and failures? Top Level Findings Body of the report Different of Types of Energy Production Current and future energy mix - GG Application of emerging innovations and technologies - e.g. blockchain could be applied to energy transactions GG Life cycle analysis of the technologies GG - The aim of energy capital is not to focus too much on the types of energy production, but to create an arena for companies to do their own thing. I think that it is important for us to know which types of energy production are feasible in Birmingham and which aren't, but do we need to go into a lot of detail here? - Izzy How are we examining them (is there a model we could design??) Could we apply the Sustainable Development Goals? GG Which bits are we rating on importance – (relative to the ‘role’) eg. # Society (what it needs to develop) – can we give this a higher weighting. What energy do we actually need? Where does energy efficiency fit into this? If we create less carbon intensive affordable energy does this not encourage more consumption? [GG} Are energy consumption habits likely to change in the future? Who exactly is consuming energy in Tyseley? What are there needs? Who are the "winners" and "losers" from EIZs? Who are the most and least important people to engage with (I think there is a stakeholder tool for this, examining connections between stakeholders)? - Izzy # Environment (what it needs to develop) – can we take this out of the equation if energy is green (as long as what we use as fuel doesn’t impact environment (eg. Case study of Cambridge/Kenya Lake using pond weed). energy from waste does has it's downsides & is often opposed by communities, especially incinerators but also pyrolosis & gasification & even anaerobic digestion (dg) I don't think we should downright environment or take it out of the equation - even if energy production is green, there are other considerations. Do lots of smaller scale energy plants create more pollution than one big one, in terms of air pollution (transport of matierials, construction etc), water pollution, soil pollution, noise pollution? Are there going to be rules in place about construction and decommission - is this a potential barrier to the success of EIZs? What are the relative environmental pros and cons of large scale renewables versus local energy generation? What do people feel about these relative pros and cons (e.g. are people largely more in favour of large offshore wind farms than small local initiatives)? - Izzy # Economy (what it needs to develop) – higher weighting? I think there is a huge piece on Local – we’re growingly referring to ‘one planet’ – is local a town/county/country/Eu etc? – how far can you move energy before you lose too much of it in transport? – recommendations?? Different locations have different energy needs and infrastructure developed - potentially easier in developing countries where the distribution network can be built from scratch/fit for purpose (and not into an existing system which provides complexities) GG The big economic question is how do we make the development and implementation of community energy a good economic prospect for companies wishing to do so in the EIZ? What is currently stopping local energy generation schemes from making a profit? How do we turn local energy production from a not-for-profit, small scale thing into a major capitalist enterprise? These schemes have to be economically self-sustaining. What is stopping them at the moment? - Izzy Could we do a SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses of each – opps and threats? (might not have this level of detail) Could we put them all into a type of product portfolio Size of development - Who needs to be involved/Key stakeholders (try jonna@akordi.fi see https://akordi.fi/ dg) Could we produce a map? Eg. What’s the ‘Role’ to whom - Location/Local Any relationship between the locality and different fuel sources (Hydro/geo-thermal/wind/solar). - including what is appropriate and inappropriate for Tyseley, and what these specific types of generation require to develop in terms of social, economic, environmental and technological support - Izzy Strengths Limitations & Risks Geo-thermal example causing earth Quake pond weed Kenya, duplication of infrastructure costs differences in systems construction Inability to scale up Technology Does the current grid and billing system support local energy generation? What needs to be changed about it? What happens to excess energy generated (eg can it be used to split water into hydrogen to fuel cars?) Can energy be stored for later use? How much energy will be produced locally and how much will need to be imported, and does this vary according to time of day? Based on this ratio, how will we define "success" for EIZs? - Izzy Conclusions Role to Society, Economy, Environment??? I think we need to answer the questions specifically for the Birmingham innovation zone as part of this given local constraints will define what can be done GG Given the barriers identified, is there potential for barriers to be overcome and for community energy generation to play an important role in EIZs and Energy Capital? - Izzy Potential for connections to other projects, eg energy efficiency in housing, transport, industry, recycling, circular economy... - Izzy Further research required?? Can we get information on the energy demand projects for Birmingham? GG References STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVE CONTACTS 1) Financer 2) Developer 3) Technology provider 4) Local authority - planning, conservation, energy departments 5) Energy consumer - business or resident